Residents and Fellows

The following policies are in place to assist in the management of the graduate medical education programs during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hampton Roads. These polices will be reviewed and revised as necessary both during the pandemic and afterword. Program Directors should check this site periodically for updates. Questions should be sent to Dr. Linda Archer.

The EVMS Medical Group is providing guidance for healthcare providers treating COVID-19 patients. This approach to COVID-19 is based on the best (and most recent) available literature and the Shanghai Management Guideline for COVID.

Exposure to Suspected or Confirmed COVID-19 Patients

Last Updated: 04-22-2020 5:12 p.m.

EVMS Human Resources (HR) is the central reporting mechanism for access to Occupational Health for resident/fellow screening for COVID-19. After discussion with the program director, the resident/fellow should contact Human Resources at 757.446.6043 for reporting and referral to Occupational Health for screening. Human Resources will provide the program director with status updates on the resident/fellow throughout the process and until the resident is deemed cleared to return to work.

EVMS has updated the post-exposure protocol for health care workers. Please remember that regardless of the hospital in which you are training, you are EVMS employees and must abide by the EVMS the post-exposure policy. Efforts are under way to bring the post-exposure protocol’s for EVMS, Sentara Norfolk General Hospital (SNGH), and Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters (CHKD) in-line with each other. As these protocols are subject to change based on evolving knowledge of COVID-19, please check the EVMS COVID-19 webpage frequently. You will receive notifications via your institutional email.

Educational Assignments during Quarantine or Illness

Last Updated: 05-06-2020 12:10 p.m.

Program directors have the authority to provide alternative educational assignments for residents on quarantine or illness due to COVID-19. If the resident/fellow is assigned home duty due to quarantine or illness, the program director should report such to EVMS Human Resources and complete the Telework and Remote Work form.

These situations may include residents returning from travel, or those with exposure to suspected or confirmed patients, and those who develop suspicious symptoms before rapid testing is available.

For residents/fellows on quarantine, program directors may provide remote educational assignments if the resident/fellow is well enough to work, to engage in, and/or support clinical care. These remote educational assignments will be specialty specific, but some possible assignments are:

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Last Updated: 04-13-2020 4:37 p.m.

For now, all sites are following CDC guidance for N95 respirators, plus facemask or goggles, and contact (gown, gloves) when treating these patients. Online updates on how to don and doff the N95 respirators will be made available on the EVMS website. Due to a shortage of N95 masks, on-site fit testing will not be conducted. Residents/fellows with beards/mustaches are encouraged to remove the facial hair to help ensure an appropriate mask fitting.

Please not that shortages of PPE may determine how the PPE is distributed. Please ask the attending supervisor or the nursing supervisor if you have any questions.

Laundering of Clinical Attire

Last Updated: 04-01-2020 1:14 p.m.

Each of the residency/fellowship programs has been asked to develop a protocol for professional clinical attire during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that many residents/fellows are not provided scrubs and are laundering clothes at home or in a commercial washer, please review the CDC guidelines for laundering clothing. We are developing specific guidelines for physician and laundering of professional attire.

VitalTalks

Last Updated: 04-06-2020 4:22 p.m.

As front line clinicians, there will be difficult conversations over the next weeks/months with patients seeking testing for COVID-19, those diagnoses and with the families. The Center to Advance Palliative Care has developed VitalTalks which is a primer on how to talk with patients and includes Screening, Triaging, Admitting, Resourcing, Anticipating, and Grieving dialogs. Please take a moment to see what is available and determine if it would be helpful for you as we move through the next few weeks/months.